Ahoy, mateys, and welcome to the Game Buoy podcast – your twice monthly port of call for gaming news and views that maybe aren’t on your radar, but most definitely should be! On this episode, recorded Saturday, May 4, 2013, Captain Spike and his first mate, Slagkick, are joined by special guest Sea Wolf Jason to discuss the early history of fighting games up to the turn of the century.

Captain Spike and First Mate Slagkick welcome special guest Sea Wolf Jason onto the SS Game Buoy to talk about the history of fighting games up until the turn of the century. They look briefly at the predecessors to Street Fighter, which helped launch the genre as we know it, and the evolution of fighting games throughout the 1990s. The Podcast Pirates talk about the big guns – including Mortal Kombat, King of Fighters, and Tekken – but they also look at some lesser known games, including Sega’s Eternal Champions and Square’s Tobal No. 1. Captain Spike, First Mate Slagkick, and Sea Wolf Jason examine how fighters changed throughout the years, culminating in a look at Nintendo’s foray into the fighting world: Super Smash Bros.

“CRASH COURSE: A Brief Introduction to the World of Fighting Games” is Part 1 in a two-part series. Please look forward to Part 2 in the future, where Game Buoy will take a look at fighting games in the 21st century.

WHAT’S UP

Captain Spike has been playing Mega Man Zero, more Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Super Mario World, and Ice Climbers. Slagkick has been making Social Links in Persona 4 Golden, while Jason has been enjoying Injustice: Gods Among Us and Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine.

SMASH OR TRASH

This week it’s a DOUBLE DOSE of Smash or Trash as the Podcast Pirates bring you two great articles and two poor articles to show how gaming journalism should be done…and not be done.

After a Kotaku writer expresses his criticism of the problematic art design of female characters in Dragon’s Crown, Vanillaware founder George Kamitani makes what is presumably a gay joke involving artwork of burly dwarves – The PA Report discusses why both of these things aren’t okay on Vanillaware’s part.

This great feature from Eurogamer follows a group of dedicated fans of Shadow of the Colossus who aim to uncover every last secret of the game. The article is a great read and a shining example of gaming journalism done right.

Kotaku complains about JRPG censorship without thinking critically about the reasons why certain changes may have been made, totally missing the mark and making this article an ineffective contribution to the discussion of censorship in gaming.

Kotaku thinks that the presence of Michelangelo’s David in Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a sign that Nintendo is okay with male genitalia in games, but not with female butts (such as the one that was censored in Fire Emblem: Awakening).

SOCIAL LINKS

The Question of the Week was:

“This week Game Buoy looks at the nigh-impenetrable world of fighting games. What have your experiences with fighters been like? Have a fave?”

It yielded some great answers from @nintendoug, Space Pirate Ben, Wicked from Nerdgasm Network, Game Buoy superfan Dan D., and Jeremy from Qoopa Klub!

Also, Crystal H. from California sends a sweet message of support, and @nintendoug sends some more love.